Remote provisioning of virtual machines

Abstract

In a virtual machine environment, virtual machines may be remotely provisioned on a virtual machine host. A server application on a machine remote from a network of the virtual machine host may receive provisioning parameters for a new virtual machine through a server application such as a web application. A client application is provided within the network of the virtual machine host which receives the provisioning parameters and triggers the provisioning of the new virtual machine on the virtual machine host.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for remotely provisioning a virtual machine comprising:
 providing a client application in a network comprising a virtual network host, the client application providing a communication channel between a server application operating outside the network and the virtual network host operating inside the network; 
 providing the server application in a machine remote from the network, the server application providing an interface for a user to enter provisioning parameters to provision the virtual machine operating on the virtual network host; 
 receiving one or more provisioning parameters from the user through the server application; 
 communicating the one or more provisioning parameters from the server application to the client application; 
 communicating the one or more provisioning parameters from the client application to the virtual network host; and 
 provisioning the virtual machine on the virtual network host from the one or more provisioning parameters provided by the user, the provisioning parameters assigning only a number of central processing units (CPU) during the provision operation to the virtual machine while other virtual machine configuration parameters assigned to the virtual machine during the provisioning operation are set to default values. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1  comprising configuring the client application to provide a communication channel between the server application and the client application. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1  wherein the provisioning parameters are received in a vendor independent configuration. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 3  wherein the server application communicates the provisioning parameters to the client application in the vendor independent configuration. 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4  wherein the client application instantiates the provisioning parameters into a vendor specific virtual machine definition. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1  comprising providing the server application as a web application. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 6  wherein the server application is provided as the web application from a web server within the network. 
     
     
       8. A system for provisioning virtual machines on a virtual machine host within a network, the system comprising:
 a processor configured to execute a server application, the server application being configured to receive one or more provisioning parameters of a virtual machine, wherein the server application is configured to provide an interface for a user to enter provisioning parameters to provision the virtual machine operating on the virtual network; and 
 another processor configured to execute a client application, the client application being configured to receive the one or more provisioning parameters from the server application and to provision the virtual machine on the virtual machine host, wherein the client application provides a communication channel between the server application operating outside the network and the virtual machine host operating inside the network, and wherein the provisioning parameters provided by the user assign only a number of central processing units (CPU) during the provision operation to the virtual machine while other virtual machine configuration parameters assigned to the virtual machine during the provisioning operation are set to default values. 
 
     
     
       9. The system according to  claim 8  wherein the client application comprises a provisioning code datastore that stores a plurality of code blocks for provisioning parameters of a virtual machine for a plurality of virtual machine host vendors. 
     
     
       10. The system according to  claim 9  wherein the plurality of code blocks each comprise vendor specific code for provisioning one or more parameters of a virtual machine on a specific virtual machine host vendor. 
     
     
       11. The system according to  claim 8  wherein the server application executes on a machine remote from the network. 
     
     
       12. The system according to  claim 8  wherein the client application executes on a machine within the network. 
     
     
       13. The system according to  claim 12  wherein the client application executes on the virtual machine host. 
     
     
       14. The system according to  claim 8  wherein the client application is configured to provide a communication channel between the server application and the virtual machine host. 
     
     
       15. The system according to  claim 8  wherein the server application is configured to communicate the one or more provisioning parameters to the client application in a vendor independent format. 
     
     
       16. The system according to  claim 15  comprising a plurality of virtual machine hosts, wherein the client application is configured to instantiate the one or more provisioning parameters into a vendor specific configuration dependent on a selected one of the plurality of virtual machine hosts. 
     
     
       17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions for execution by a processor, that, when executed, cause the processor to:
 providing a client application in a network comprising a virtual network host, the client application providing a communication channel between a server application operating outside the network and the virtual network host operating inside the network; 
 providing the server application in a machine remote from the network, the server application providing an interface for a user to enter provisioning parameters to provision a virtual machine operating on the virtual network host; 
 receiving one or more provisioning parameters from the user through the server application; 
 communicating the one or more provisioning parameters from the server application to the client application; 
 communicating the one or more provisioning parameters from the client application to the virtual network host; and 
 provisioning the virtual machine on the virtual network host from the one or more provisioning parameters, the provisioning parameters provided by the user assigning only a number of central processing units (CPU) during the provision operation to the virtual machine while other virtual machine configuration parameters assigned to the virtual machine during the provisioning operation are set to default values. 
 
     
     
       18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to  claim 17  comprising instructions executable on the processor that cause the processor to execute the client application that receives the one or more virtual machine provisioning parameters and provision the virtual machine on the virtual network host. 
     
     
       19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to  claim 18  wherein the client application is configured to:
 determine a host from the one or more virtual machine provisioning parameters; and 
 convert the one or more virtual machine provisioning parameters into a host dependent format. 
 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to  claim 17  wherein the interface is provided as a web interface.